Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan celebrated his 3rd birthday last week. We had a small bbq for friends and family, which was great. We had an ice cream party with all the toppings, and are still eating it! I bought way too much. Ryan got some great new toys and stuff. Today his new reading chair from Grammie came, so I'm waiting for him to see it (he's in his room pretending to nap). We're slowly opening all the other stuff he got, so its been an interesting time.

We've been spending time at the pool at our gym. We've had a great time there so far. If I'm able to, I've been putting Emma in the day care so I can spend some one on one time with Ryan, which I'm sure he's grateful for (although he doesn't express it). We went with Kris and Nana this past Monday and had a ball. They have a great water structure and a kids slide, which Ryan could play on for hours. Baby pool - ha - we don't need no stinking baby pool! Here are some pictures from it.

We went to the Kenton County Fair this past weekend (our first time) and had a wonderful time. It was a little difficult to figure out how to move both kids without the double stroller, so we carried Emma most the time in her new wrap and Ryan was in the stroller and while Ryan went on rides, Emma got to ride in the stroller. Ryan loved seeing the animals and riding the rides. We also saw a baby tractor pull for kids (pedaling) starting at age 4!!

We also took the kids to get pictures taken again. Mostly for Ryan's birthday, but we were hoping for a better together picture - which we got, but still not as good as we were hoping. Ryan wasn't the most accomodating, but Emma took a great smily picture.

As for Emma, she's doing great. She was sick the weekend of Ryan's party with a little bug that was upsetting her stomach, but by Monday was good again. That night she slept 9 hours straight and has been doing 7 since then. I'm loving it! She's pretty happy most of the time and only has a bad time when she's ready to go to bed, but I'm not quite ready for her too. Getting two kids to bed is not the best time of our day! She's holding her head up on her belly really well now and loves to roll over (of course, I can't get a video of it).

Potty, part 2

I've already given up. I swear this kid will be in diapers at his prom (has anyone ever done that?). I realized after 2 days of it that I was training myself and not him. Never once did he say he had to go potty when I asked or tell me himself. While he would pee on the potty when I put him there (if I did it before he peed in his underwear), he had no real interest and fought going in the bathroom. Once there, he was happy when he went. He didn't like walking funny with wet underwear, but still. He doesn't seem to have the ability to tell before it happens yet. So I'm backing off. I just don't think its worth it to make me miserable - between that and him not talking, he was driving me crazy. So now we're back to just not talking. Well except for Mama and Dada. Lots of fun.

So things have calmed down here. We brought the high chair upstairs so Emma can sit with us while we eat. That caused a seating rearrangement. Now Nana doesn't have a dedicated chair and Ryan is no longer eating on the crack of the table (where we have a ton of food smooshed in). We've been to the gym and out shopping this week. Mostly playing around the house. I got a new wrap for Emma and she is loving it so far. She's fallen asleep 2 out of the 3 times I put her in it and the time she didn't was when she was hungry! Last night Emma slept for 6.5 hours straight. It was great. It would have been better had I gone to bed earlier than midnight. But I was waiting up for Kris to call on his way to the airport (his flight was at 11:40 our time) and trying to finish the book I was reading since it was due back at the library today. This weekend we are looking forward to going to the new waterpark at the gym. It looks like a lot of fun and we are going to have some hot weather, so it should be great.

Potty Time!!

Today we officially started potty training with Ryan. He really liked the Elmo underwear that he got to wear but didn't quite understand the staying dry thing. That is until he peed. I'm just thankful for plastic pants! This morning he peed through 2 pairs of underwear and then pooped in another. And as much as they tell you not to make faces or be grossed out by messy underwear - it is really hard!! He attempted to go potty three times at home and peed once. Then, we went to the park to meet friends and peed three times in the port-o-potty there! Yeah! At least its some success. Ryan was very happy to get M&M's that I'm using as an incentive.

When we got home, he wanted to put underwear back on but I knew he was going down for a nap, so I told him he'd have to wait until he got up. Now I'm waiting for him because he played in his room for the first hour he was in there and finally fell asleep on the floor. I'm just hoping he's not naked!

Happy 4th!

We spent our 4th of July out in PA with Kris's family and watching the Kevin Harper Fireworks Spectacular! It was great. We had decided to leave early Friday morning so that the kids could sleep for most of the trip. Emma complied but Ryan was awake the whole time. The hole in our theory was that Emma would stay with the schedule she normally has which includes getting up around 3 or 3:30 to nurse, but she decided to change it and woke up at 2am. It was a little too early to leave so we assumed she's be up again around 4 but slept until 5. So we didn't get on the road until 5:30, which by then was starting to get a little light and not enough time for Ryan to get back to sleep. We made it there just after 1pm and had lunch and some visiting with Kris's mom. Then we visited with Kris's grandmother before heading to the farm to unload and put everyone to bed!

Saturday we spent with all the Harpers at the farm having a great bbq and good company. Ryan had a ball riding around (or getting pushed) on a big wheel and pedal tractor that Kris's cousin donated to the farm for us to use. We never had to worry about him because he was busy! He also got to run after the bigger kids with a squirt gun, which he thought was hilarious (especially when I sent him over to get Daddy). The fireworks were great. Ryan was scared at first, but settled down and watched them with my hands over his ears. Emma was fine for the first 15 minutes, but then had a fit because it was loud and she was hungry! Happily, they both went to bed immediately after the fireworks with no problem.

Sunday was spent driving home. No one was very happy about spending the whole day in the car, but we made it home!

And here are some pictures from last week. One is of Ryan at the zoo checking out the new giraffes. He had a great time. The other is of him attempting to 'feed' his baby like Mommy does!

Painting today

Today, we painted outside. First, let me tell you, Ryan did not want to paint. I think it always sounds like fun to him but to actually do it is another thing. So his painting consisted of a few lines with the brushes. Once he got paint on his hands that was it. I had the idea to paint his hands and feet and make prints - and of course do it to Emma to. This was a much bigger undertaking than I thought it would be. Ryan didn't want to listen to my directions, so one of his feet isn't very dark - because he had already planted it in the grass. And Emma wouldn't open her hands, so they ended up as smudges. But as you can see. It was pretty cute. Overall, this used up over an hour of our afternoon. At least it was better than I first thought - 10 minutes.

Been a While

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I haven't had much time to sit down at the computer in the last two weeks. Kris was out of town for 6 days over the last two weeks including the weekend, which made for some really long days for me. By the end, I was exhausted and in need of a break. Not that I ever get it since I'm nursing Emma.

Kris has a great Father's Day here. The saturday before he ran in a 5K race for the library, beating his best time. We went to down to watch him and congratulate him when he was done. Luckily with a 5K he was done in under 30 minutes, so it wasn't too hard to keep Ryan busy! We spent the rest of that morning in Covington, going to the park and out to lunch. On Sunday, he took Ryan swimming at the gym and had a great time.

On the 18th, I had my follow up doctors appointment and was cleared to return to the gym. So we were there the day after Emma turned 8 weeks (they wouldn't take her until then). She slept the whole time!!

We've had many playdates that have kept us busy including swimming and a birthday party with animals. Around here, me have played at home, opened our new swimming pool and played in the sprinkler and with the hose. As you can see, we have a lot of fun all around.

Ryan has been 'playing' with Emma too. He loves to show her toys and today he decided to play doctor with her (in a correct fashion). She is in awe of him most of the time. She loves to watch what he is doing until he gets too rough and then she wants nothing to do with him. Lately, Ryan has had a little trouble listening and understanding that Momma can't do everything when he wants. This creates a lot of whining and tantrums, which gives mom a big headache!

I wish I could remember all the funny things Ryan has been doing lately. I read in a magazine about someone who took their wall calendar and wrote the funny thing from that day that happened on it. I may do it, because I always see him do stuff and think it's hilarious but then forget about it. Of course, I won't forget the hose in the face since I have the pictures of it.

As for Ryan's speech, he has been adding a few words here and there. More has become a favorite word - which is no suprise since it was his favorite sign also. We're working on 'me' this week, which he almost has down. He's also been saying Nana and Buppa (once he called him Bob when looking at pictures) but not consistently. We only have another month of speech then we have to wait until school starts (come on Sept 2nd).

Emma had her two month doctors appointment on Friday. She was at 15lbs and 25 inches long. Not as heavy as Ryan was (17lb, 2oz) but a hefty girl none the less. The doctor said everything looked good. We followed that up with a trip to Baby's R Us (if you know my troubles trying to get the coupon they promised me, I finally got it 9 weeks late!) and to CiCi's pizza for lunch. Kris was off work so it was a nice family day. Too bad Ryan wasn't feeling well and gave it to me! Now we just need to get over these colds!

Back to Normal

Kris is still travelling (a lot), so these last two weeks were the first weeks by myself with both kids. What fun! We've actually made it out of the house and done pretty well. Kris has been impressed that I haven't called him and told him to come home now!! We've had several playdates, Emma's doctors appointment, and some shopping to do. Ryan's done great when we are out and about, he stays near the stroller or cart. We even managed grocery shopping with Emma in the sling and Ryan in the cart - although we made it a quicker trip than normal.

I'm including a lot of pictures from the last two weeks. Ryan and I made cookies this week in which Ryan finally had enough patience to help and wait to eat them! Ryan has been playing outside a lot. There's a picture of him riding his 4-wheeler down the drive way, he is really to heavy to go very far on it, but he kicks up some speed going downhill. We also started out summer off with some pool and sprinkler times. You can see how much he enjoyed them.

This weekend was our first trip. It went pretty well considering a 5 hour trip took us 7 hours. Kris said that didn't say much for our trip to PA! Besides some diaper blowouts, we did well. The Michigan welcome center has a playground which helped Ryan blow off some steam while I nursed Emma. We stopped and had a picnic also. We had a great time at my parents house. Although Emma wasn't happy to visit the Stones due to her dislike of peppered turkey, she was pretty good besides that. Even her sleeping wasn't disturbed. We had a great barbeque on Saturday. Ryan loved playing with Karrie and Shannon's kids especially in the sprinkler. Sunday, we went out to breakfast and then visited my cousin Deanna and her family. Overall, such a great trip, but we were glad to be home.

Now - here are some funny and/or shocking tidbits from our last few weeks. Ryan decided to 'make' eggs two weekends ago and washed the eggs in the sink and then put them back in the fridge. However, only 3 out of the 9 he got out made it there and a lot of yolk as everywhere. You would think our really bad reaction would make him think twice, but he did it again on Monday this week, this time dumping an entire dozen of eggs down the drain! Mommy was not too happy, Ryan just more concerned that I wasn't going to give him another shirt (I had to take his off because it had yolk on it!). Yesterday, Ryan decided to be a baby. He took Emma's pacifier and sat in the bouncy seat! And today, he decided to wear my shoes out to get the paper. So here are the pictures from that!